Senior Reporter
Hours after the Special Operations Bill (SOB) passed in the Lower House, a wave of concern swept through the communities of Beetham Gardens and Sea Lots, as residents said they now feel “caged” by the legislation.
Coming out of a recently ended State of Emergency (SoE), during which some residents were detained under Preventive Detention Orders without being charged, these two communities in Port-of-Spain said the bill has heightened their fears of another form of confinement.
Shaquille Burke, the son of the late Sea Lots community leader, Cedric “Burkie” Burke, said having emerged from an ongoing SoE, residents are now faced with a reality where the threat of being mentally caged looms large.
Surrounded by a group of men from the community, Burke felt that the SOB would be far worse than the SoE.
“Because you’re imprisoning the free world now. You not behind a cage again, but the cage is mental now,” he said.
“For real,” shouted one of the men who joined Burke and their Port-of-Spain South MP Keith Scotland yesterday to discuss the ramifications of bill.
“Basically, how we watching, it is to keep a strain on us. They already get rid of Cepep (Community-Based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme) and these things that used to help us earn a living. Now they are putting us in a cage. So it’s like, we’re not in jail again, but we’re in jail,” Burke said.
The legislation replaced the Government’s defeated Zones of Special Operations (ZOSO) Bill, establishing seven policing districts across Trinidad and Tobago.
It creates a framework for special operations to combat criminal activity.
Within those districts, special locations can be declared “closed” areas where enhanced law enforcement powers can be exercised for limited periods.
Those powers include curfews, cordons, checkpoints, road closures, restrictions on entry and exit and, in specified circumstances, searches without warrants.
Insisting that the bill was a “sprawling assault” on citizens’ rights, Scotland on Saturday promised to mobilise his constituents against the bill.
With the bill giving police sweeping powers to lock down neighbourhoods, the residents wondered if they are truly free.
Under the blistering sun, the men met with Scotland at the community’s fish market to vent their feelings about the bill, which they are not in support of.
Restricting movement
Burke said the bill would restrict their movement.
“A lot of youths in this community, they need their freedom because that is how they make their living. Putting us on lockdown is like restricting us from living.”
Burke said this will only apply further pressure on them.
He said Sea Lots already has a stigma which they have to live with.
In a statement via social media on Saturday, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar warned that she will not hesitate to declare another SoE despite the passage of the SOB.
She said the People’s National Movement (PNM) wants a criminal state so the Westmoorings, Federation Park, St Clair and other gangs can flood communities with illegal drugs and guns.
Asked how they felt about the PM’s warning, Burke said, “I have no confidence in the current Government right now. And to me that is the road we should take. Everyone come together and (have) no confidence.”
Burke assured that Sea Lots is a community of peace and one love.
“In order for the peace to continue and expand, they can’t lock us down. It’s not about hate. We are about love,” Burke insisted.
Scotland interjected saying that Sea Lots residents have been behaving.
“We are not here in any rah-rah business,” he said.
“This is not how you fix things. These are honest, hard-working people. But just one stigmatisation alone could have this area declared a zone. And there we are.”
If Sea Lots is deemed a closed zone, Scotland wondered what would happen to the young men who would need to venture in and out of their community.
Burke said throughout the world there are bad elements.
“That doh mean that everybody have to suffer for a few bad elements. That is not how you does fix things. To me, they know who are the criminals. Why would you put everybody under that shade? This community has a lot of aspiring people. Is not just criminals. And we actually moved so far away from that.”
He said Sea Lots has transformed from a “stigmatised” crime-riddled community to a zone of peace.
“We’ve had big changes. People actually doing something with their lives now.”
Burke said he expects to be targeted for speaking out.
“Them bad boys and them will come after us for speaking out. They will bully us,” one of the men insisted.
Lee: We are being caged
Joel Lee, president of the Beetham Gardens Community Council, said their community have been free of murders and shootings.
“So this zone of operations that they are coming with to pick out certain communities that they feel is hot spot… what is a hot spot community?… because we have crime going on in Valsayn… organised crime they call it.”
Lee said crime has been happening all over the country.
He felt they have stepped out of one form of containment, such as the SoE, only to walk into the SOB.
“We are being caged. With the SoE and the bill, you are governing us down.”
Lee said Beetham Gardens has had a “bad stain” on its name for years.
But behind the bad image, their community has produced lawyers, engineers, teachers and doctors, making them proud.
He said they are standing firm against the bill because it would shut down businesses and disrupt sales.
“All the little food outlets and entrepreneurs would have to close their businesses at 6 pm. I am a working guy. So I would have to ask for a permit to go to work and a pass to come back in. So that will slow me down and slow down the community.”
Like Burke, Lee said the SOB would be far more drastic than the SoE.
“It’s going to be worse because of the powers they will give the police.”
Already, Lee said some police officers can’t contain their aggression or speak to civilians properly.
Think things over
Lee said what is needed in the community are programmes, as unemployment has been increasing among single parents.
“We are just asking the relevant authorities to think it over. I am asking the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, please let us think before we act. Let us take we time and analyse what is going on. We know it have crime in the country. But not everyone in the country is a criminal. What’s good for the lower-class is good for the upper-class.”
Beetham Gardens resident Genile Dyer also believes the SOB was passed to target certain communities.
“We know that is the intent. If you want to implement this bill, it has to go across the board… ghetto communities… upscale communities. Everybody is supposed to get it. Don’t restrict one set of people and one environment. Restrict everybody and done, if is so you want to do it. What you feel good for the lower class, good for the upper class too.”
